Above, Left to right: Pastor Michael Thornton prays with other members of the Global River Church staff in April. Briella, 3; Abigail, 5; Jordan, 6; Bethany, 2, on a hill behind Global River, with parents Amber and Michael Thornton, holding Jonah, 2 months. Today Michael is the outreach pastor at Global River Church in Wilmington. Through his own nonprofit, Ignite Ministries, he also ministers in cities and towns through-out the South. Richard says, “God will bring good out of it. God is a miracle God. The only one way you’ll have a normal life is with the Lord. I have done 40 years of ministry. You are going to have to have the Holy Spirit to overcome it.” Michael has since shared his testimony across Eastern North Carolina, in South Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey, even back on the Marine base where he was once held. “The head guy in the Marine Corps called me and asked, ‘Is there a possibility I can get your son out here to share with these guys in the brig?’” Richard says. “It was so touching to see how they embraced him that night. God just used him. They brought us out onto the base, Michael shared his testimony. They still recognized him as a Marine. They recognized he got captured by the devil. It’s like he was wounded in action.” Today Michael is the outreach pastor at Global River Church in Wilmington. In addition, through Ignite Ministries, co-founded with Amber, he ministers in cities and towns throughout the South. His first nonfiction book, “Fire in the Carolinas: the Story of The Revival Legacy of C.B. Cashwell and A.R. Crumpler,” was published in 2014; his second is in the works. Michael and Amber have five chil-dren, 27 Michael completed a six-month, intense program coupled with hard physical labor at The Potter’s Wheel. After his second week, Michael told Richard and Esther he had rededicated his life, and the calling on his life he had when he was ten years old was still in good standing. He said he was going to college to become an evangelist and the Lord was going to pay for his college. “We had to get him a tutor to get him out of high school. He’s telling me he’s going to go to college. His highest grade in high school was like a 75,” Richard says. “I didn’t have any money. He’d gone through his inheritance; he’d blown through $30,000 or $40,000. He was telling me, now he is going to college.” It was then father and son went on a divine appointment that led them to Heritage Bible College in Dunn, North Carolina. Accepted the same day, Michael not only graduated first from Bible College with no money, but next Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. At Heritage, with a 4.0 average, Michael became student body president. He also met his future wife, Amber. At Regent, Michael earned a master’s degree in public administration/nonprof-its. Amber earned two master’s degrees. Esther says, “It was a miracle. God was in all of it. It was all Jesus.” When Michael gave his 700 Club testimony, still on YouTube today, Robertson ended the clip telling viewers, “If He will do it for Michael, He will do it for you.” ages two months to six years. Richard and Esther live in Jacksonville, and minister often with Michael and Amber. www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
Wrightsville Beach Magazine May 2015
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